We flew in Friday morning from Hawaii, washed our clothes, re packed the suitcases and bright and early Saturday morning we headed up to our condo in Little Cottonwood Canyon at Snowbird's Iron Blosam. We only made one stop, at The Junction in Kanab for lunch and cruised the whole way there. I am lucky, my boys are such good travelers. We dropped Kelcie in Provo, and headed to Sandy for dinner (we wanted Zupas but it was closed for the holiday-don't get me started, so we had Cafe Rio instead) and groceries. Then it was up the mountain to the resort.
I've said it before, but this is a trip we do every year. In fact, I have been going every year since I was a baby. There are numerous families who have all stayed there as long as we have and it is so fun to see them each year and catch up.
Snowbird is mostly about three things... 1) swimming 2) enjoying the parks and other outdoor fun and 3) relaxing. Now, this year with 5 of us (plus Kelcie sometimes) we were at capacity in our unit, but we had a good time regardless. Braden is old enough now he can pretty much wander the building and get from each of the family rooms with out me worrying so much that he'll get lost. Berk had a great time as long as he got to push the elevator buttons and Brenner was just happy to have such long straight halls to do his monkey walk-crawl down.
We spent the 4th of July at my sister Robyn's house eating yummy food and letting the kids play with Pop-it. We didn't stay late enough for the fireworks because 1) Utah did their fireworks on the 3rd of July and 2) Berk and Brenner both were sick -ear infections and Brenner had croup too...
Rhonda and her girls, Troy and his family as well as my two siblings, Robyn & her family and Loyle and his stepson Dan, who live in Sandy all came up during the week. The kids had a blast with all the cousins running around. Braden stuck like glue to Camden and Braxton, wanting to hang with the bigger boys.
(L-R)
Braden, Robyn, Draven, Audrey, Talia, Rhonda, Caryn, Yazee & Brenner
We wandered down the mountain to Zupas later in the week to make up for missing it on Saturday. It was my Dad and brother in law Russ's first times there, which is sad, since Russ lives there, but whatever! I once again enjoyed my two favorite things, Wisconsin Califlower soup and Summer berry salad. Yumm-O!
One of the other super special things we got to do was visit an old friend
. Heidi and I grew up dancing together. We were both the youngest of big families, who were all on the teams, and we were always partners. I do not have a single dance related memory without her in it. Through the wonders of Facebook, we found each other, and a few months ago she had her third baby boy, Logan, and contacted me. Logan is a heart baby. We talked days after the diagnosis, and just 2 days before his first open heart surgery. I got to be her Welcoming Committee to the Heart Mom club. I cannot tell you how fun it was to reconnect, yet under such crappy circumstances. Logan has HRHS as well as a number of other defects. I jumped at the chance to meet him while we were up there- meeting at Training Table was an added bonus!
Could this little guy be any cuter? And his color was so good! Not a blue mouth, tow or hand in the bunch- which is amazing. I loved his little mohak!
Logan at 6 weeks old, and post op from his 1st OHS.
Heidi and I & our Heart Babies
Each year we spend one day over at the Snowbird Center doing the activities. This is always a day the boys look forward to. We ride the Alpine Slide, Take a Tram ride to Hidden Peak,jump on the bungy tramp & bounce house, ride the mechanical bull, mine for precious stones and this year they even had a ropes course.
Riding the Alpine Slide
& Panning for rocks
Bouncy Tramps and Rock Wall
The Tram
Views from our unit
I had to include this photo for sentimental reasons... you see when we were little there were so many of us that I usually slept in the chairs. They make a perfect little bed, and as I grew we even added the food stool to lengthen it. Braden slept there one night before realizing Nana had an actual bed he could use and jumped ship to their room each bedtime. Berkley fell asleep here for his naps. You know he is sick when that kid naps.
We went down to Rodizio's at Trolley Square for dinner one night. It used to be one of our must have's when we came, but it had been a few years since we had been there. But it was every bit as delicious as I remembered. Berk was fascinated with the block. He did NOT want it turned red, and every waiter that came by he insisted on trying what they had. Braden even braved a chicken heart, although he couldn't swallow it, he was braver than I am! Brenner loved it all, as you can see from his face. I especially loved Kelcie's food hangover face.
We spent one morning in Park City, ate at Kneaders again and hit the outlets. After that we made sure to hit the pools again and it was time to start packing. We had an awesome time at 'The Bird' and can't wait for next year. Finger's crossed another unit comes up for sale so we can have a little more space.
Up next, our family reunion! We had a busy few weeks...
